is this evening. This is either going to be a two or a three-week little mini-series, if you will. Come on to James in chapter 4. James in chapter 4, something that's been banging around in my heart and my mind for the last several months, and we've put this together here, and I do hope and pray that God will bless you, convict you, and really and truly do to you what it has done to me in working toward putting this sermon together. James in chapter 4, and we'll be looking in verse 4 tonight. We'll get into our message, amen? James 4 and verse 4 says, of God. And man, so the title of the message tonight that I want to bring to you from James 4.4 is In the Way of Worldliness, In the Way of Worldliness. And I am going to go ahead and tell you guys, be very careful where your mind has wandered right now and what your distinction and depiction of what you think and maybe even what you've been taught worldliness is. You know, I really think by the time we're finished with this series, I hope and pray that you will be enlightened and edified and that will help you out in certain situations. But James 4.4, or in James 4.4, we find a statement concerning a relationship with the world, okay, a relationship with the world. He uses some words in here. He uses the word friendship, and he uses the word friend. Now, the word friend comes from a Greek word philos, okay? It means friend, or to be friendly with one, wishing him well, a friend, an associate, he who associates familiar with one, or a companion, okay? That's what it means. Philos, we understand also, the Church of Philadelphia, which is the Church of brotherly love, we understand that. We understand the different definitions, phileos, if you will, the different definitions of the word love, okay? And that's what we're finding here in these words that are being utilized, and it's a reference, guys, to an unauthorized relationship. which in the beginning may seem like it's fun, may seem like it's a bit of a game, flirty even, exhilarating, maybe a little bit of, I don't know, adrenaline rush, this little friendship, this unauthorized relationship, if you will, but the results are going to be disastrous. It's going to be disastrous to your well-being. the well-being of your family, to careers, I mean to finances, reputations, to the cause of Christ, basically as life as we know it. An unauthorized relationship, guys, will come through your life like a category five tornado. It will rip and shred to pieces everything in its path and simply just leave a wake of damage, much of which, as much as we like, just unrepairable. It's just unrepairable. Now, these things begin with some sort of attraction. Now, I'm not a fisherman. I don't pretend to be a fisherman. Daniel loves going fishing. Bailey enjoys going fishing. David Darius loves going fishing. Guys, I don't have the attention span to fish. And I loved going hunting when we lived in the States. I'd get up there, I'd take a book with me, and I'd read books in the deer stand. I would. And by the time it was light enough to read, I could read and then I could spot something for 30, 40 minutes and maybe come away with a game or something. Fishing fishing bores me to death. I don't know what it's like watching paint dry to me I would do it for the love of my children hands down if they asked me to go fishing boom We'll go for the love of my children Now there's a thing in Alabama called crappie fishing. You got these little freshwater Freshwater fish called crappie and they're they're lovely to eat their little bitty fish But during crappie season, you can take a cane pole, fishing pole, and chuck it out there, and they'll bite it, and it's just like this. I mean, you can catch 20, 30, 40. No, that's the kind of, I don't like fishing, I like catching. How about that, right? That's what I like. But anyway, I'm saying all that to say this, how do you catch a fish? You lure them into something. They see that bait. They see that worm that's there, that liver or that plastic worm or whatever it may be. They see it and it draws them to it. It's an attraction and they bite it and before you know it, guys, before they realize, once they get that thing in, they're already hooked. And that's what we find with this unauthorized relationship that James is warning us about with the world. There is an attraction to it. Guys, bottom line, if you tell me there's not an attraction somewhere in the world, you're lying. You're lying to yourself, you're lying to God, and you're lying to me, okay? Sin would not be a temptation, amen, if there wasn't an attraction to it. And that's the warning that James has given us here. about this unauthorized relationship, okay? So, this attraction, this draw, this lure into the world to begin this friendship, guys, Will soon become fatal james in chapter 1 verses 14 through 15 tells us But every man is tempted now guys every man every human being is tempted. They ain't a soul in here excluded They're right. I don't care. I don't care what your standards are and guys listen as independent fundamental bible-believing baptists We are the world's worst at giving a list of standards of what you have to meet to be called an ifb And half of those standards ain't nothing more than preferences. Amen And that's what your idea of worldliness is. If you go against that list, oh, you worldly. By the end of this sermon, you're gonna be eating some crow on that, amen? Not tonight's sermon, but probably the whole series. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Now watch this. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Notice he didn't say when you was finished with sin. It's when sin is finished with you. That's the unauthorized relationship that James is referring to in chapter 4, this relationship with worldliness. And again, before you run down your little road of what you think worldliness is, or what your pastor may have taught worldliness is, or what your Bible college taught worldliness is, I'm going to say this, you better slow your roll. Because when we begin to break it down, we may find something just a little bit different than what you are thinking right now. I got it covered because I'm wearing the right shoes, the right skirt, the right dress. I mean, you just slow your roll. We'll get to it here in just a little while, amen? Maybe, well, not tonight, but nonetheless, we'll get to it sooner or later. So when sin is done, guys, when it's finished with you, rather than you being finished, it bringeth forth death. Unauthorized relationships of any sort whatsoever always results in devastation. Devastations of the things that I just mentioned up here, careers, finances, reputations, family, the cause of Christ. James 4 is warning us. He's warning us of these certain attractions. He delineates to Christians how our relationship to and with the world has a detrimental knock-on effect. He does not exclude the world from our lives, though. That's the caveat. He reveals the damage the world causes when we are engaged in this type, and again I know I've said it multiple times, unauthorized relationship. So the word world. The word world comes from a word called cosmos, okay, cosmos. And it's defined, guys, the same place we get the word cosmetics or cosmopolitan, it's defined as an apt and a harmonious agreement, arrangement, sorry, or constitution, order, or government. It is the reference to a system, if that makes any sense to you. It's a reference to a system in the world, the world system. So examples of that will include, say like the world of sports, okay? If I was to say to you, when I was a little kid we had this television show that came on on Saturdays called The Wide World of Sports. You guys remember that? They used to come on and they showed this. The biggest thing I remember was the skier going downhill wiping out. You know, the wide world of sports. If you talk about the world of sports or the world of athletics, that has anything and everything to do with sport and athletics. It has the teams, the players, the agents, the coaches, the plays, the stadiums, the ticket sales, the marketing. Everything that deals with any type of sport is the world, the arrangement, the government, the system of order of sports. Same thing, say, with music. Anything and everything dealing with music from artists, to notes, to song sheets, to royalties, to chords, to the streaming algorithm, you name it. Everything that deals with music or is associated with it is the world of music. Same thing with the world of war. Anything pertaining with dealing with war, soldiers, sailors, weapons, politics, training, battlefront strategies, all of that. The world of war so that's what we're talking about this cosmos if you will any system pointed in a central Direction or subject is what is known as a cosmos. Okay this world that it's referring to Now in the case with the Bible when the word world is used it is referred to an organized system headed by Satan When the Bible speaks about the gospel being hidden from certain souls, many times you are dealing with people and they simply seem to not get the gospel. No matter what you do, what you say, where you go, whatever you take them, they just cannot get it. They don't understand their dire need of salvation. This is why. If our gospel be hid, what does Paul say? In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." Okay? That's the God of this world. Okay. This world system is full of a structure with one overriding goal, and that is the exclusion of God in your lives. He wants to remove God from the centerpiece of life. Now think about that for just a second. He wants to, when you remove God from the law, you know what the result is? The result is the redefining of marriage and the passing of laws that permit molestation of children. The state of California has now lessened and removed the penalty for consenting children with adults. Perversion on the, man, in my opinion, and no offense to anybody in California that may listen to this, forget the wall building in Mexico, you need to build a wall in California. Wall them off, man, and every pervert in the world should be dumped off there. You remove God from the home? Guys, we now have over 50% of marriages ended in divorce. We have adultery running rampant. Children are left to themselves. The Bible says a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. You remove God from the workplace, you know what you have? You have embezzlements left and right. You have the lack of integrity in the leadership and you have a system that is built to reward laziness as opposed to labor. Remove God. How else do we know that this world, this system here is headed up by Satan? Well, the Bible tells us in 1 John 5, chapter 5 and verse 19, it says, and we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. Now that's a pill that many of us don't like to swallow. That's a verse that most people, you know, that's not on their refrigerator at home, is it? That the whole world lieth in wickedness. But that's the truth. That's the reference to a system bent on removing God from the centerpiece of society. Not necessarily the people we know and see each day, but the system. Guys, the people that we see each day, Jesus Christ died for these souls. The system is seeking to keep them in darkness. It lieth in wickedness. We should not be surprised when God is unhappy, when Christians want to have a side relationship, if you will, with this cosmos. James is inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, lays out this outline, and I'm gonna refer to it here in just a moment, as the Lord's concern. What is the Lord's concern? What does James lay out for us? He spells it out quite simply to each and every one of us. He is concerned with what is called worldliness, all right? And again, I'm gonna say it one more time. There's many things in our own life right now, much of which is linked to our background and how we were raised, or how we were taught, or what pastors we were under. And we have this idea of what worldliness is. And we're so shallow-minded that we put that worldliness in a box. We don't do our due diligence to study out, it may not be that worldly, but we put it in this box. And if you don't fit this box here, Christianity, then you're worldly. And I beg to say that I believe your mind will be changed. The Lord is concerned with us being worldly, and this is an organized system headed by Satan designed to exclude God from the believer's life. Now, what are we referring to? What is He concerned about? He's concerned about the decisions we make, the prioritization of our time, the scheduling of our time, the commitment to the house of God, the commitment to God's people, the commitment to give as God has directed. You say, Preacher, wait a second. Let me go ahead and spell it out very simply. If you don't tithe correctly, you're worldly. Oh, but I got the right shoes on. If you don't prioritize time in the house of God where you're supposed to be, you're worldly. Oh, but I'm wearing the right tie. My hair's parted on the right side. I got my skirts real long. That doesn't matter, guys. I'm not saying those are bad things. What I'm saying is you've created an idol of what you think is not worldly, amen? and you've forsaken the meatier parts of the Word of God." We have too many that act like they're not part of this world system and dancing around with worldliness and this and that because, you know, they're doing other things. I'll just say that. Guys, with regards of church time, you know, church should be written in ink on the calendar of your heart. If you repeatedly allow friends, family, and foes and whatever it is to pull you away from church times, you're worldly. I call it half-hearted believism and half-stepping individuals. Now, God doesn't want us to be of the world. In your notes or in your Bible, write that word down, of, because that is a very important word that we need to look at here this evening. Back at James chapter 4, and I have it up on the screen, I want to make sure my emphasis, I added the underlines in the verse there, so that's not part of the Bible. James 4.4 says, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God. It says whosoever. Now we're happy about the whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, right? But now we've got a whosoever is of the world, okay? So the Holy Spirit ensures that the word of is utilized as opposed to in. God does not want us to be of the world. Nevertheless, He wants us to be in the world, okay? We need to know the difference. There is a difference. We are to be in the world. Not of the world. One of the ways that you can tell the difference is when, again, when we repeatedly make decisions that hinder us from being with God's people and doing God's will. If you are repeatedly allowing friends and family, finances, whatever it may be, to keep you from being faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ from His house, that is evidence of worldliness. We are to be in the world, guys, just not of the world. Otherwise, you know what would happen? The Lord would have just taken us out of here, right? He's left us here for a reason, man. Jesus his own words. He says this in John chapter 17 verses 13 through 17 is now Come out to thee and and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but thou shouldest keep them from the evil they are not of the world even as I am not of the world sanctify them and through that truth thy word is truth. We love verse 17. We got that one highlighted, underlined in our Bible. But the word of God is very clear. Jesus is very clear. He's saying, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world. I'm asking you to keep them from evil. I don't want you to take them out. They got a job to do down there, amen? They got work to do down there. They got work to do on this earth, in this world, inside this world system. They're just not to be of that world system. Notice what Paul says, 1 Corinthians, in chapter 5, verses 9 through 11. And he said, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company. Now, notice this, guys. Look at it from the screen. Now, this is, what book is this? 1 Corinthians. But it says, I wrote unto you. See, technically, Paul wrote three letters to the Corinthian church, all right? But what we call 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, those are inspired ones. But Paul wrote a note to them saying, listen, don't be keeping company with fornicators and this and that. So he says, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to keep company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with the idolaters. For then, watch this, for then must ye need to go out of the world. In other words, if you're not going to be around all these sinners, okay, The only way you're going to avoid these sinners is to be taken out of this world. Alright? He draws a distinction. Now watch this in verse 11. He said, So notice the clarification. Notice the clarification that Paul says. First, we know Paul wrote this letter just of himself to the church of Corinth prior to the inspired letter that we call I Corinthians. Secondly, in this letter, he spoke of separation. Yet the Holy Spirit makes a clear distinction between fellowship and company. He says if a brother, in other words, a saved individual, born-again believer, backslide and become a fornicator or a covetous or an idolater or a railer, a drunkard or an extortioner, He says no not to eat with them. Remove yourself from fellowship with them. But there is no way that we can avoid lost souls who fall into these categories being in the world. In other words, you're going to have to die to get away from these people because you're going to be surrounded by them if you're doing the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to be taken out in order to avoid the fornicators and covetous people. But we are in the world to win these souls to the Lord Jesus Christ, to witness the gospel of the Savior, guys, to them. We cannot do this if we have friendship with the world, which includes fellowship with the so-called brother or sister who's made their friendship with the world, as James has spoken about, and now become an enemy of God. It is possible for you as a child of God to be God's enemy. You see the difference? You can't avoid fornicators and covetous. Guys, in the way of worldliness, you're not going to avoid the people. We are here with a job to do to win them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now guys, before you tick your little boxes thinking that you aren't worldly, you got your little independent Baptist startup kit, you know. You got your black trousers and your brown shoes. You got your long jean skirt and your kids on. You know, Nesie and I joke about that, you know, just because of the church in the past. James, by the way of the Holy Spirit, begins to dig deeper below the surface, you know. He gets out of the shallow end of the pool, where too many people tend to tread today with their idea of a godly Christian. Never in the history of mankind has the clothes ever made the man. The man makes the clothes. Amen? I'm all for standards. I'm all for them. But if you think because you put on something that is better than somebody else, you think that makes you godly, you're wrong. You're more worldly than they are. And I know this is gonna rub some people wrong. Rub on. That's just the way it is, amen? So we're gonna look next week where true worldliness rests. We're gonna get back into James chapter four and verse four. We're gonna go into James chapter four, verse one. My goal is to finish it next week. For us to understand where worldliness really resides in the Christian's life. Friendship of the world, the Bible says, is enmity with God. Being a friend of the world, you are becoming an enemy of God. Yeah, but I got my tick list. Well, tick on. It's got to line up with the word of God. Amen. Will you bow your heads? Father, thank you, Lord, for the night. Thank you for the opportunity. I pray that you'd bless us as we continue on in our service this evening. I ask you, dear Lord, to watch over each and every one of us and give us the guidance that we need to better and best serve you. And Lord, I pray that we take these words tonight, even though I know it's one point, a bit of an introduction in the way of worldliness, I pray, Father, that we would take it to heart, Lord, and that we would begin to peel back the layers of this chapter that You've given unto us and see where we may be found, where we may be found wanting, and help us make those improvements in our life, Lord. We pray that this would be a message of conviction with the result of edification. In Jesus Christ's name, amen.